Tea Essence or Tea Cream

I'm wondering if some of the posters here are familiar with this form of Puerh that seems to be getting more popular with the Chinese. I was given some samples of both raw and cooked Tea Essence. The photos show the packaging and the Tea Essence itself. Searching google, I found some sites featuring different brands but all describe a very scientific process of extraction that seems to get all of the beneficial elements of the tea leaves.

At first, I thought it might be some kind of instant tea that restaurants sometimes serve, but this is not the case. Pouring boiling water into a vessel slowly melts the pellet into a thick, syrupy blob that ultimately dissolves in the water. After drinking, we could feel sensations in the forehead and stomach.

1g Tea Essence.jpg (76.59 KiB) Viewed 1984 times

1g package.jpg (58.72 KiB) Viewed 1984 times

Can someone tell me what Houde means? It appears on both the raw and cooked samples. Other packages said wenchun. I couldn't find translations for either of these words on Babelcarp or other dictionaries.

Xincang is just a fancy name. You can look up the dictionary, but it is just a name, really. This is puerh chagao - it's not very good, just concentrated pu. Expensive and you have no idea what's actually in it. You're better off drinking leaves.

MarshalN wrote:Xincang is just a fancy name. You can look up the dictionary, but it is just a name, really. This is puerh chagao - it's not very good, just concentrated pu. Expensive and you have no idea what's actually in it. You're better off drinking leaves.

Yes, it's expensive. I'm not about to switch. There is no substitute for playing with the leaves, plus the taste is very different from the actual leaves. Seems more like a supplement than a tea.

This point may not be as critical, but a tea concentrate is probably going to be lacking a whole subset of chemicals -- the lighter, more volatile ones. I would imagine that the process of concentrating the tea extract into solid form involves a lot of heating, which would boil away chemical compounds of lighter weight.

I can't say how those compounds affect the aroma and taste, but again, they will likely be missing from this solidified form.

Drax wrote:This point may not be as critical, but a tea concentrate is probably going to be lacking a whole subset of chemicals -- the lighter, more volatile ones. I would imagine that the process of concentrating the tea extract into solid form involves a lot of heating, which would boil away chemical compounds of lighter weight.

I can't say how those compounds affect the aroma and taste, but again, they will likely be missing from this solidified form.

One of the claims that are being made about this type of product is the process they use to extract the beneficial properties of the tea. Theoretically, you could get more of the beneficial properties out of a product like this. Personally, I don't drink tea to solely benefit from the properties. I like the process of brewing, taste, aroma, and fiddling with the tea ware. With a product like this, all the above are missing and you are left with a product that is more like taking a supplement. The taste and aroma are much more subdued and almost unrecognizable from the original leaves. I would have no interest in buying and using this kind of product but I can see how it could be marketed as a 'tonic' which the Chinese, in particular, seem to have a fondness for.

Tead Off wrote:One of the claims that are being made about this type of product is the process they use to extract the beneficial properties of the tea. Theoretically, you could get more of the beneficial properties out of a product like this. Personally, I don't drink tea to solely benefit from the properties. I like the process of brewing, taste, aroma, and fiddling with the tea ware. With a product like this, all the above are missing and you are left with a product that is more like taking a supplement. The taste and aroma are much more subdued and almost unrecognizable from the original leaves. I would have no interest in buying and using this kind of product but I can see how it could be marketed as a 'tonic' which the Chinese, in particular, seem to have a fondness for.

To which I say I think this is all BS. Yes, it's marketed as a kind of medicinal thing, but honestly - who are we kidding? Back then it might have indeed been boiled and reduced the old fashioned way, but these days if they make this at all, it's in giant stainless steel vats.